The Beginning
by lkuecrar
Summary: This is my take on how the four Vault Hunters wound up on that Hyperion train in the beginning of the game, and is mostly focused on Maya and Axton. Axton x Maya if you squint!


AN: This is how I imagine the Vault Hunters wound up on that train in the beginning of the game. I've literally put 700 hours into Borderlands 2, according to Steam. I need a life. Lol. I've loved the Borderlands franchise ever since the original Borderlands came out, and my love for it has only grown since the second game.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Borderlands franchise, and am gaining no money for writing this. Gearbox owns it!

* * *

I wrinkled my forehead in disgust at the dingy little bar that I was sitting in. A chuckle passed my lips at the thought of worrying about the quality of the establishment. _This is good as it's going to get on this shit hole of a planet. _I lifted my glass up to my lips and took a deep gulp of the sludge in my glass. It took every bit of self-control to not spit the foul fluid from my mouth.

I had taken a seat in a dark corner of the bar, allowing me a view of everyone while no one could see me. Running my eyes over the other patrons, I put down the thought of starting a fight just for something to do. _These drunks would be down in a few seconds. That's not even factoring in my turret._

My eyes snapped towards the entrance when the door swung open. I narrowed my eyes at the heavy black cloak and hood. The hood was pulled over the person's head, allowing me no view of his or her face. I was immediately on edge and reached for my Jakobs revolver at my hip. The years I served for Dahl as a soldier made me a bit more paranoid than the others in the bar; maybe they were just so drunk they didn't notice the new arrival. Either way, I was now on edge.

The mystery person must've felt my eyes boring into them since they turned to look towards my direction. The person lifted their head long enough for me to look into a pair of blue eyes and a flawless face that looked to be unsure about something. Finally the woman nodded her head and began walking towards me with a confident stride.

I stared in shock at the approaching woman for two reasons: no one approaches me, and the fact that the person approaching me is a woman. There aren't many of those on the excessively male-populated Pandora. I was ripped from my thoughts at the sound of a chair screeching across the floor.

The woman spoke in a low voice while staring at the table between us. "Please tell me that you have more than twelve brain cells and teeth."

I bristled. "Last time I checked."

The woman looked back up again with excitement. "Yes! I've been looking for someone that isn't mentally disabled! Can you tell me where the nearest train station is?"

I frowned. "I'm not really sure. Where're you going, if you don't mind me asking?"

The woman looked slightly off-put. "I'm not entirely sure. I was just following this flyer."

The mystery woman pulled out a crinkled flyer with the head of Hyperion Corporation on it and something about Vault Hunters being wanted. After reading over the flyer, I looked back up at the woman. "Vault Hunter? What's that?"

Her eyes widened. "Are you kidding with me? How do you not know what a Vault Hunter is?" I tried to cut in, but she continued. "You know the alien vault that four Vault Hunters opened five years ago on this planet? Well, apparently there are more Vaults and it wasn't one of a kind. The Vaults are supposed to hold untold alien power. Anyone that opens one is immediately skyrocketed into fame!"

Again, I stared at the woman in shock. Slowly, I began to smile my first genuine smile in months. "So, I'm guessing that it isn't a walk in the park to open a Vault, then? Count me in."

The woman stared at me in shock. "You mean you'll come with me? But… we just met; I don't even know your name!"

I turned on my charming smile that had won over every woman I've used it on thus far. "I don't know yours either. In fact, I don't even know what you look like because of the massive cloak. What's the deal with that anyways?"

Instead of turning into a dribbling pile of goo, the woman across from me stiffened at the mention of the cloak. She looked to be debating something with herself before ultimately nodding. The woman stood up and motioned for me to follow her out of the bar. Cautiously, I followed her out of the bar and down the street until we came to an alleyway. She turned around when we reached the end and faced me. "Sorry, but my appearance attracts unwanted attention. I stole this from the Abbey on Athenas before leaving."

The woman quickly ripped off the cloak and I felt the air whoosh from my lungs. _She's beautiful_. The mystery woman turned out to have a killer body that any woman would be jealous of. She wore a combat suit that was skintight. _Definitely looks good on her_. Her exotic looking blue hair complimented the strange blue tattoos that lined the left side of her body. I roved over her body with my eyes, until I heard an annoyed cough.

My eyes snapped up to her annoyed face. I spoke in a rough voice. "Sorry." _It's been WAY too long since I've seen a woman._

She shook her head. "It's okay. I'm used to it. As if we Sirens weren't stand-out enough, we get these tattoos too."

My eyes widened at that. "You're a Siren. That's why the tattoos look so familiar." I felt like a kid in a candy store. "So… do you have some kind of awesome powers, or something?"

She rolled her eyes. Without saying anything to me, she reached out her left arm towards a dumpster beside us. The tattoos on her arm began glowing a bright blue moments before the dumpster was trapped in a black and purple ball of energy that made a squealing noise.

The ball of energy faded and the dumpster fell back onto the ground. All I could do was stare at her in awe. "That was so badass."

A shy smile formed on her face. "Thanks. My name's Maya, by the way. What's yours?"

I turned the charm back on. "I'm Axton."

* * *

Axton and I had left the little town shortly after noon. It was now well into the night and we were still aimlessly following the train tracks that went through the town. Axton was the first man that I had ever been around besides the monks at the Abbey, and he wasn't at all like what the monks said men were. _I guess that's just something else to add to the list of things they lied about to me. Maybe he'll be the first friend I'll ever have. _I felt happier than I had in a long time at that thought.

_He's definitely easy on the eyes, so it shouldn't be that hard to like him. _With his cropped brown hair and roguish looks, Axton probably could have any woman he wanted. _The military uniform definitely looks good on him_. I blushed at my thoughts and quickly glanced at Axton to make sure he hadn't seen my strange behavior.

I quickly learned that Axton was a thrill seeking ex-military man on the run from said military. When I asked _why_ he was on the run, he just got a bashful look on his face and mumbled something about an ex-wife. I decided not to push it. I was brought back to reality when I hear Axton say my name in that rough voice of his.

Axton was still walking beside me, but had his head turned towards me. "Well, I told you all about me. It's your turn."

I cringed, but decided I owed it to him. "I came from Athenas. I was given to the Order of the Impending Storm as an infant when I was identified as a Siren. For twenty-seven years, I was kept locked up in the Abbey by the monks. They told me that it was my destiny to keep Athenas safe. Even though I was lonely, I did as they said."

Axton looked confused. "I'm surprised they let you leave."

I shook my head and dug the toe of my boot into the dusty ground beneath me. "They never planned to. It turned out that they were using me to extort money and obedience from the people of Athenas. They scared the people with promises of bringing the wrath of a Siren down upon them. I learned this the hard way when I witnessed first hand the fear that I caused. It all became clear and I turned on the monks. Brother Sophis called me child one last time before I put a bullet in his brain." I sighed. "Twenty-seven years of my life were wasted in that place. At least I got out when I did."

Axton's eyebrows were drawn together. "That sucks." I sent a smile his way and began walking again.

A few moments later, I spoke once more, wanting to clear something up that had been bothering me. "I met a man shortly before I met you in that bar. What did he mean by 'coming back to his room with him?' Why would I go to his room?"

Axton made a choking sound before bending over laughing while clutching his stomach. "Oh man! That is great! I guess that's what happens when monks raise you! Oh damn!"

I stared at him, lost. "What?"

He just laughed harder.

* * *

We finally reached the train station just as the sun was coming up over the horizon. There seemed to be a crowd of people at the station, presumably all Vault Hunter hopefuls.

Axton and I hung around the back of the crowd. Not wanting to get separated, I reached out and took hold of Axton's hand like a child. He sent me a bemused smile in return.

After a few minutes of waiting around, a haughty voice came over the intercom. Everyone silenced as the voice began to speak. "Hello Vault Hunters! I'm Handsome Jack, CEO of the Hyperion Corporation, and I'm here to thank you for taking interest in our proposition! Here's your first test; whichever ones of you that aren't dead by the time my robots are all killed can get on the train to come meet up with me! Ciao!"

I looked at Axton wide-eyed before snapping my head towards the sight of robots being digistructed from the walls. I pulled out my corrosive pistol and put my back against Axton's as we waited for the robots to finish assembling. Finally, they were ready.

Chaos erupted in the station. There were screams coming from every direction. I phaselocked the nearest loader and smirked as I slammed it into another loader. I began pelting any robot I could see with corrosive rounds until I could phaselock again.

I could hear Axton and his turret chewing through the metal monsters behind me. I smirked. _We make a pretty good team._

That moment of distraction was enough to get me punched across the room by one of the loaders. I heard Axton yell my name as he redeployed his turret, but all I could focus on was the burning feeling coming from my abdomen. _Dammit! The thing must've fractured a rib!_

I phaselocked the nearest loader and quickly destroyed it. I crawled towards the hypo needle that it dropped and immediately shoved it in my thigh. The slight pain of the needle was nothing compared to the relief of my rib mending. I was back on my feet in moments. I ran back inside of the fray to find Axton. _There's strength in numbers; I need to find him!_

I followed the deep thudding of his turret and found him in a rage. His clothes were torn and blood spattered, but he didn't seem to mind as he continued killing his attackers. I tossed him a hypo needle that I found on the way back before taking over with the assault. "Heal up!" He grinned when he saw me and quickly went about healing himself.

The robots finally quit digistructing after a half hour of nonstop fighting. When it was all over, only two others besides Axton and I were left standing. The two men were very different; one was tall and slim, the other was short and stocky. The tall man wore a black full body suit and displayed the number zero on his helmet and seemed to be quiet and reserved. The other man was the exact opposite.

I decided to approach them and spoke. "I'm guessing that the Handsome Jackass will try to kill us again when we get on that train. There is strength in numbers, so how about working together? My name is Maya, and this," I said, motioning towards Axton, "is Axton."

The tall man spoke first. "My name is Zero/Assassin here to kill Jack/I long for his blood." I blinked. _What an odd quirk. Was that haiku?_

The short man spoke up in a Spanish accent. "Mi nombre es Salvador. I jus' wanted some money, but this pendejo had to screw up my plans! I'm in!"

I smiled at the rag tag group in front of me. "Well, what now? Should we just hop on the train?"

Axton looked out towards the train. I could see him falling into a practiced strategist role, probably from his military days. "Yeah. That'll be the best option. We shouldn't let our guard down, though. We'll probably be attacked the second we get on that thing. I don't like going straight into this obvious trap, but there isn't anything we can do about it."

Zero and Salvador seemed willing to listen to Axton's commands, so we just fell in behind him as we made our way over to the train's doors. I followed up in the rear and stared at the men getting on the train in front of me. _I get the feeling that this is the start of something big._ A smirk graced my lips as I stepped onto the train.

* * *

AN: I guess, if you're reading this, thanks for reading! Don't forget to _**Favorite and Review!**_ I made Maya seem a bit naive in this because she would most likely be since she was raised by monks in an Abbey with no contact with others!


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